1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for assessing tool performance within manufacturing facilities. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for efficiently assessing tool performance within manufacturing facilities.
2. Description of the Related Art
Common in the art of manufacturing complex products, and in particular manufacturing complex microelectronic products such as complex integrated circuit products, is the use of extensive and sophisticated tool sets. The use of extensive and sophisticated tool sets is generally required when manufacturing complex products, and in particular when manufacturing complex integrated circuit products, insofar as, in particular, integrated circuit product complexity is generally not readily effected absent an extensive and sophisticated tool set.
While extensive and sophisticated tool sets are thus desirable in the art of microelectronic product fabrication and often essential in the art of microelectronic product fabrication, extensive and sophisticated tool sets are nonetheless not entirely without problems in the art of microelectronic product fabrication. In that regard, it is often difficult in the art of microelectronic product fabrication to efficiently comparatively assess individual microelectronic fabrication tool performance within an extensive and sophisticated microelectronic fabrication tool set.
It is thus desirable in the art of microelectronic fabrication to provide systems and methods for more efficiently comparatively assessing microelectronic fabrication tool performance within an extensive and sophisticated microelectronic fabrication tool set.
It is towards the foregoing object that the present invention is directed.
Various microelectronic fabrication tool performance systems and methods have been disclosed in the art of microelectronic fabrication.
Such systems and methods are typically predicated upon an algorithmic analysis of operation of microelectronic fabrication tools. Examples of such systems and methods are disclosed within Kraft, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,510 and Wang et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,879, the teachings of which are incorporated herein fully by reference.
Desirable in the art of microelectronic fabrication are additional systems and methods for efficiently comparatively assessing microelectronic fabrication tool performance within an extensive and sophisticated microelectronic fabrication tool set.
It is towards the foregoing object that the present invention is directed.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method for assessing microelectronic fabrication tool performance within a microelectronic fabrication tool set.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method in accord with the first object of the present invention, wherein the microelectronic fabrication tool performance is efficiently assessed.
In accord with the objects of the present invention, the present invention provides a system for assessing tool performance within a manufacturing facility and a method for assessing tool performance within the manufacturing facility.
In accord with the method, there is first defined a uniform data analysis format. There is then developed a uniform set of tool performance analysis models predicated upon the uniform data analysis format. There is then provided a plurality of manufacturing tools which generates a plurality of tool operation data sets in a plurality of non-uniform data analysis formats. There is then translated the plurality of tool operation data sets in the plurality of non-uniform data analysis formats to a corresponding plurality of tool operation data sets in the uniform data analysis format. Finally, there is then determined a plurality of tool performance characteristics for the plurality of manufacturing tools while employing the uniform set of tool performance analysis models and the plurality of tool operation data sets in the uniform data analysis format.
The method of the present invention contemplates a system which effects the method of the present invention.
The present invention provides a system and a method for assessing microelectronic fabrication tool performance within a microelectronic fabrication tool set, wherein the microelectronic fabrication tool performance is efficiently assessed.
The present invention realizes the foregoing object by defining a uniform data analysis format into which is translated a plurality of tool operation data sets originally in a plurality of non-uniform data analysis formats, to provide a corresponding plurality of tool operation data sets in the uniform data analysis format, such that in conjunction with a uniform set of tool performance analysis models, there may be determined a plurality of tool performance characteristics for a plurality of manufacturing tools which generates the plurality of tool operation data, sets in the plurality of non-uniform data analysis formats. By employing the uniform data analysis format, an individual tool performance analysis for each of the manufacturing tools may be avoided and thus tool performance analysis efficiency is realized.